BIOGRAPHY

Darold Roles is thrilled to be back in the free-lance theatre world after having served for seven years as the Artistic and Education Director of the Canadian College of Performing Arts.

He originally hails from Alberta where he earned a Bachelor of Education in Drama from the University of Alberta and a MFA in Theatre in Directing from the University of Calgary. His successes in the professional theatre and post-secondary education field include work as a director, choreographer, performer, producer, writer, teacher and respected administrative leader. Mr. Roles has served as Dean of Arts and as Chair of the Performing Arts at Red Deer College. During his time in the Red Deer community, he was awarded a Mayor’s Award in the Performing Arts field and an Exemplary Leadership Award from the International Chair Academy. Prior to that he was the Artistic Director of Keyano Theatre and instructed in the Visual and Performing Arts department at Keyano College.

He was a co-founder and co-Artistic Director of KOMPANY!, a professional song and dance company that toured across North America, Europe, Japan and Australia for 28 years. His work with KOMPANY! and as a freelance artist in Edmonton earned him numerous Sterling Award nominations for Outstanding Musical, Best Choreography and Best Cooperative Production. He has adjudicated major Provincial dance and theatre festivals and presented Master Classes throughout Western Canada.

As a director and choreographer he has received rave reviews for hundreds of smash hit shows including; Mary Poppins, Beauty and the Beast, A Chorus Line, Chicago, Footloose, Joseph..., The Crucible and Edward Albee’s The Goat or Who is Sylvia? He was the Performing Arts Director for the Alberta Summer Games and has co-authored the hip new musical The Jazzcracker with Ron Schuster and jazz music master Tommy Banks.